AAP is mistaken, Ambani doesn't run the govt: Chidambaram

AAP is mistaken, Ambani doesn't run the govt: Chidambaram

Rebutting the Aam Aadmi Party charge that Mukesh Ambani runs United Progressive Alliance government, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday said huge penalties have been imposed on Reliance Industries for producing less than committed gas.

Bank guarantees will be taken before allowing any price hike Chidambaram added. The finance minister called the first information report registerd by the AAP government against Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily and others for raising gas prices as ‘laughable’.

He was part of the decision-makers who allowed all domestic natural gas producers, including Reliance Industries Limited, to almost double the natural gas prices from April.

AAP is mistaken, Ambani doesn't run the govt: Chidambaram

"These are throwaway lines which do not deserve to be replied to," he told PTI in an interview when asked about charge levied by Kejriwal and his party that Ambani ran the government.

"The Petroleum Ministry has imposed a huge penalty on RIL.

“The Petroleum Ministry has required them to furnish a bank guarantee for the undelivered quanity of gas pending the issue of price rise. So, how can anyone say that this government is run by business man," he said.

The government has imposed about $1.8 billion penalty on RIL for natural gas output from its main fields in Krishna Godavari basin KG-D6 block falling short of the targets during the last three years.

AAP is mistaken, Ambani doesn't run the govt: Chidambaram

The new rates, which are likely to be at $8-8.4 against the current price of $4.2 per million British thermal unit, are based on the recommendations of a committee that was appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the request of Moily's predecessor, S Jaipal Reddy.

Days before he quit as Delhi Chief Minister, Kejriwal ordered filing of a police complaint against Moily, RIL and its Chairman Ambani for creating an artificial shortage of gas in the country and raising prices.

"Now, what is the status of FIR, I don't know. I think it is a laughable FIR. If an FIR is being registered, it would be a laughable FIR," Chidambaram added.

Moily himself had termed the lodging of the FIR as unconstitutional and against the principles of federalism.